The present invention relates to a pour spout for dispensing liquid from a vessel such as a glass bottle.
Pour spouts for dispensing liquids are well known in the art. Such spouts can be commonly found in taverns and pubs where large amounts of liquor are dispensed from various sized bottles through the general course of business. During busy periods, a bar tender is often required to pour and mix drinks quickly in order to efficiently serve the patrons of the establishment. In addition to speed, accuracy is also important. It is undesirable that liquor is wasted through spillage or by dispensing excessive amounts of liquor into individual drinks. A pour spout inserted into the neck of a liquor bottle allows the fluid contents of the bottle to be poured out quickly and smoothly, in controlled manner. With a properly designed pour spout, the fluid contents of a bottle are dispensed in a narrow continuous stream, without the characteristic backing up of liquid in the throat of the bottle as is common when liquids are poured too quickly from bottles not fitted with a pour spout.
A typical pour spout including features common to most models is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,099 issued to Sanford, Jr. et al. There, a pour spout is disclosed including a lower portion which is insertable into the neck of a bottle; a vent tube; a spout; and a horizontal disc separating the lower insertable portion from the external spout portion. The lower insertable portion includes a plurality of resilient sealing fins which engage the internal surface of the bottle neck when the pour spout is inserted therein, forming a liquid tight seal which prevents fluid from leaking out of the bottle around the outer surfaces of the pour spout. A channel or bore is formed within the spout portion, and extends through the entire pour spout. Apertures at either end of the channel allow liquid to enter the lower portion of the pour spout inserted into the bottle neck, and be poured out through the aperture in the spout at the opposite end. The vent tube extends through the lower insertable portion of the pour spout and includes a second narrow bore. The second bore extends only as far as the horizontal surface of the disc, where a small aperture opens to the external environment surrounding the pour spot and bottle. When the contents of the bottle are to be poured out, the bottle is tipped from a vertical position toward a more horizontal orientation. The external spout portion is angled such that to pour the contents of the bottle, the bottle must be tipped in the same direction as the angle of the spout. This ensures that the fluid contents of the bottle will properly enter the pouring channel without requiring excessive tipping of the bottle. As the liquid is dispensed out of the bottle through the spout, the vent tube allows air to enter the bottle, equalizing the pressure within the bottle and preventing the contents of the bottle from backing up and pouring out in an uneven manner. While there have been innumerable variations to the basic design just described, these basic features are common to most, if not all, presently used beverage pour spouts.
As noted, pour spouts such as that disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,099 patent are typically used by taverns and pubs and other purveyors liquors and spirits. The bottles in which such pours spouts are most often inserted are bottles containing liquor of one kind or another, such as whiskey, gin, vodka, and others. Generally most liquor dispensing establishments will have an entire assortment of liquor bottles lined up behind the bar, each opened, and each having a pour spout inserted into the neck thereof Thus, in the crush of business, a bar tender need only reach for a particular bottle and quickly pour a controlled volume of liquid into a glass in order to mix a particular drink requested by a patron. Having pour spouts in all of the bottles greatly increases the bar tender's efficiency, and cuts down on excess spillage and over filling of drinks.
Using pour spouts on such a widespread basis, however, generates a number of problems for the operator of the establishment. Most significantly, in order to reseal a particular bottle, the pour spout must be removed and the original cap replaced on the bottle. This can create confusion in storing a large number of bottle caps and returning the proper cap to the proper bottle. Also, this greatly increases the effort required to both open the establishment at the beginning of the business day, and close it again at the end of the shift. One option to avoid this problem is to simply leave the pour spouts in the bottles during off hours. However, in doing so the operator risks losing much of the contents of each bottle to evaporation. Furthermore, leaving the bottles open can lead to unwanted air born contaminants entering the bottles. Such contaminants may include insects, dust particles, air born chemicals, or other air born agents.
Some prior art pour spouts have attempted to address this issue, albeit imperfectly. For example some prior art pour spouts include perpendicular cross members placed across the pouring channel adjacent the opening in the end of the spout. The cross members act as a crude filter, keeping larger contaminants from entering the bottle. However, this solution fails to check the infiltration of smaller contaminants, and it does nothing to prevent evaporation of the liquid contents of the bottle. Furthermore, the cross members interfere with the flow of liquid through the spout, interrupting the smooth pouring of the liquid out of the bottle. Another solution has been to stretch a finer filter such as a wire screen across the spout's pouring channel. This has a less degrading effect on the flow of liquid through the spout, and also blocks finer particles from contaminating the bottle, but still does not address the problem of evaporation.
What is needed is a pour spout which can be inserted into the neck of a fluid containing vessel through which the liquid contents of the vessel can be poured in a smooth and controlled manner. Such a pour spout should provide a mechanism by which the vessel may be stopped with an air tight seal without removing the pour spout from the bottle. The stopper mechanism must be configured such that it is easily operated, and seals both the pouring channel, and the adjacent vent tube to prevent evaporation of the contents of the bottle. Furthermore, such a pour spout should be easily manufactured and inexpensive to produce. Preferably, the pour spout should be made of plastic by injection molding.